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The education system worldwide has been greatly impacted by COVID-19 pandemic 2019–2020, which has led to the temporary closure of both primary and higher education sectors, posing an uncertainty among the system and other concerned fraternities. Citing the potential disruption of learning activities, the UNESCO recommended the use of distance learning programs and open educational platforms that schools and teachers can use to reach learners remotely and limit the disruption of education. With the challenge of fighting the pandemic in one hand and preventing the hampering of education on the other hand, India has called to continue the educational process making an effective use of technology and other available options. The paper is aimed to review such e-platform and initiatives set up in the government portals itself long before any idea of the dawn of current pandemic which can offer a great bundle of resourcefulness for the faculties to monitor continuous learning experience in this pandemic time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SARS-CoV-2 is a type of coronavirus that has caused the pandemic known as the Coronavirus Disease of 2019, or COVID-19. In traditional epidemiological models such as SEIR (Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, Removed), the exposed group E does not infect the susceptible group S. A distinguishing feature of COVID-19 is that, unlike with previous viral diseases, there is a distinct "asymptomatic" group A , which does not show any symptoms, but can nevertheless infect others, at the same rate as infected symptomatic patients. This situation is captured in a model known as SAIR (Susceptible, Asymptomatic, Infected, Removed), introduced in Robinson and Stillianakis (2013). The dynamical behavior of the SAIR model is quite different from that of the SEIR model. In this paper, we use Lyapunov theory to establish the global asymptotic stabililty of the SAIR model, both without and with vital dynamics. Then we develop compartmental SAIR models to cater to the migration of population across geographic regions, and once again establish global asymptotic stability. Next, we go beyond long-term asymptotic analysis and present methods for estimating the parameters in the SAIR model. We apply these estimation methods to data from several countries including India, and demonstrate that the predicted trajectories of the disease closely match actual data. We show that "herd immunity" (defined as the time when the number of infected persons is maximum) can be achieved when the total of infected, symptomatic and asymptomatic persons is as low as 25% of the population. Previous estimates are typically 50% or higher. We also conclude that "lockdown" as a way of greatly reducing inter-personal contact has been very effective in checking the progress of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper examines how a Home-Based Learning program affects learning outcomes of children in under-resourced communities. To overcome limited internet connectivity, the program provides remote instructions via phone calls and simple text messages along with automated voice calls to engage children enrolled in grades one to five in activity-based learning content. This intervention was conducted in three districts in the state of Odisha in India. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we find that the intervention led to a statistically significant improvement in basic number recognition and arithmetic operations, and language learning scores of children by 4.69 percentage points and 5.52 percentage points, respectively. Our results are robust to alternative methods of estimation and application of Lee bounds, thus indicating that well-designed low cost interventions could be a useful supplement for continued learning in the face of sudden shocks in low income countries. With a rise in hybrid format of teaching and learning, such interventions have the capability to cushion the decline in learning levels and provide a safety net in the event of school closures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]